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Bahrain, Sudan sever ties with Iran, UAE reduces number of diplomats

Bahrain and Sudan have announced they are cutting off diplomatic relations with Iran following the storming of Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran, while the United Arab Emirates said it was reducing the number of Iranian diplomats in the country.

Bahrain authorities said they have demanded that Iranian diplomats leave the country within 48 hours.

The decision was announced by Bahraini Media Minister Isa al-Hamadi.

“Bahrain decided to break off diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and calls upon all members of the mission to leave the kingdom within 48 hours,” Bahrain state news agency BNA said.

The Sudanese Foreign ministry also announced it is cutting diplomatic ties with Iran.

“In response to the barbaric attacks on the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad … the government of Sudan announces the immediate severing of ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

Angry Iranian protesters stormed and set ablaze the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday night during a rally to condemn Riyadh’s execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Nimr was among 47 prisoners beheaded or shot by firing squad across Saudi Arabia on Saturday – the largest number of individuals executed in the Gulf kingdom in a single day since 1980.

The Saudi consulate in the city of Mashhad in northwestern Iran was also attacked by protesters on Saturday, with police intervening after rocks and Molotov cocktails were thrown at the building.